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Defence Scheme to January of that year, the Colonial Defence Committee stated as follows:-
It appears that a serious attack ou Colombo is little probable during the south-west monsoon but more probable during the north-east monsoon, and that at Trincomali the conditions are reversed. This suggests the possibility of economical employment of the Ceylon garrison by throwing its strength to either port according to the timg of your, and this in its turn points to the expediency of perfecting the communications between the two places. It seems highly desirable that at least a good communication by road between them should be made, and it is suggested that the Governor should endeavour to cause provision to be made in the Civil Estimates for the construction of a road from Trincomali to Matale, as advocated by the Local Committee.”
From the description of the existing means of communication between Colombo and Trincomali, on page 23 of the Scheme, it would appear that a force could not be moved from one place to the other by land in less than seven or eight days. Though with the garrison allotted to each fortress on mobilization, it should be able to hold out, against the nature of attack anticipated, there is no doubt that the strength of both would be greatly increased if the means of moving troops between them could be improved, and the Committee recommend that the further attention of the Local Government should be directed to the matter.
They would also suggest, for the consideration of the General Officer Command- ing, that in view of the importance as a link in the mobilization scheme of the march from Matale to Trincomali, an experimental march by even a small party would be of great value as a mobilization exercise.
They further recommend that the question of the movement of reinforcements between Colombo and Trincomali by sea, which is briefly alluded to on page 23 of the Defence Scheme, should be more closely examined, and the arrangements, which would be made for such transport, recorded in the Scheme. It is understood that the voyage could be made in two days, or even less, and it would appear probable that for so short a trip almost any sea-going steamer, which happened to be in harbour, could be made available without special fittings.
5. Pages 1 and 2, paragraph 5.—The Local Defence Committee ask for a definite decision on the matter of allotting a war garrison to Galle.
The Colonial Defence Committee pointed out in their Memorandum No. 51 M, of the 27th October, 1895, approved by the Joint Naval and Military Committee in Report XXII, that it has been decided that Galle should not be held as a defended coaling station, and that general strategic conditions preclude such hostile opera- tions as the conversion of Galle into a point d'appui for an organized attack against Colombo. The Local Committee now state (page 9, lines 7 and 8), however, that "it would afford a base for an attack by land or by torpedo-boats on Colombo." This does not agree with the formerly expressed opinion of the Colonial Defence Com- mittee, nor, indeed, is it consistent with the statement on the second paragraph of ' page 8 of the Scheme to the effect that an attack in force on any of the Ceylon ports is improbable, "and the contingency to be provided against would rather be a sudden raid by two or three cruisers carrying second-class torpedo-boats, and each capable of landing at the most 150 to 200 men.' If with 600 men it is seriously contemplated to make a land attack on Colombo, to which a war garrison of over 1,500 men is allotted, the small expeditionary force would certainly not be landed at a point 68 miles from its objective, and whence telegraphic information of the landing would be at once. dispatched. It is, indeed, possible that the protection afforded by the harbour at Galle might be utilized by an enemy's cruisers to hoist out carried torpedo-boats for an attack on Colombo; but there are various other places where this might be done except in such rough weather as would imperil the boats in a passage round the
coast.
was
The only anxiety as regards Galle, which need affect the Ceylon Defence Scheme, is the necessity of denying to an enemy the large stock of coal maintained there. It to meet this that the Colonial Defence Committee in their Memorandum No. 51 M, above referred to, recommended that arrangements should be made to close the port against shipping in war. Instructions with this in view have been drawn up and embodied in the Defence Scheme (page 39, paragraph 6). When they are carried out the entrance of a hostile cruiser by night will, in the opinion of the Naval Commander-in-chief, be rendered unlikely, if not impossible. He states, however, that it will still be possible for such a vessel to enter by day, but that the force detailed for the defence of Galle should be sufficient to prevent it coaling.
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This force (pages 22 and 25 of Defence Scheme) cousists of three companies of
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